Ciaran Kilkenny of Dublin during the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Semi-Final match between Dublin and Kerry

More familiar faces under the guidance of Jim Gavin will travel to play Cavan in the opening round of the league on Sunday week.

For most of those players it will be their first competitive game with Dublin since last year’s All-Ireland final replay win over Mayo.

Cavan, on the other hand, have used a number of regulars during their three-game Dr McKenna Cup campaign this month.

The Dubs spent the beginning of January on a team holiday in Jamaica, but Kilkenny feels the players will be ready to go at Kingspan Breffni Park.

He said: “I think we have a good culture in our team that even when lads are resting, they are doing some sort of activity, whether it’s playing tennis, squash or in the gym keeping the body ticking over.

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“Lads are in decent shape at the moment, a lot of lads will be playing with their colleges as well so they’ll be getting game-time there. There will be lads coming in from the O’Byrne Cup team who are fit as well.

“We have been training a week and we have another week until the Cavan game so we’ll know, I suppose, in Breffni Park on February 5 where we are at, but I think lads are in good shape anyway.” Kilkenny travelled to Newbridge last Sunday to watch Dublin play Kildare in the O’Byrne Cup semi-final.

He added: “Kildare were six or seven points up and Dublin just got a bit of momentum towards the end of the game, a few lads came off the bench and got a few scores.

“The lads are in fantastic shape, it was great to see them win the game the way they did. Six points down, to nail them back, in Newbridge as well against Kildare, was brilliant.

“There is a great opportunity for them now to hopefully put in a good performance and win another O’Byrne Cup against Louth.

“I know the atmosphere is going to be incredible there in Drogheda, it’s going to be a great game.”

These are prosperous times on and off the field for Dublin GAA — and the county board are now closing in on finally buying the Spawell site in Templeogue on the southside.

Kilkenny said: “It’d be massive to have a spot of our own because I know the Dublin hurlers and other teams and ourselves have struggled with pitches in the past.

“So it’d be nice to have our own actual base where we could train in because a lot of other counties have a Centre of Excellence.”

After a lengthy run with county and club — Castleknock advanced to the Dublin SFC final last year — Kilkenny says he has enjoyed the downtime ahead of the 2017 season.

And he added: “Rest and recovery are vital for inter-county players, particularly ourselves with the way the game went on into October and the fact we’d been going all the way to September the previous year.

“So if you are not resting, then something is eventually going to happen. Jim is very good at that, giving lads rest so they have time to recover and relax.

“Then when lads come back they are buzzing, they are so excited, really looking forward to training again and both mentally and physically you are just in such a great place after having a rest.

“When you do get a rest you do miss the training, you miss being around the lads, you miss the craic — even the training in the darkness and soggy pitches.

“When you come back everybody has smiles on their faces and you can see by their aura that they are ready to go.

“Even in the gym, lads are buzzing, the music is going and lads are ready to go again and go on another journey and see where it brings us.”